Gene,
Just because the guy is a "scientist", that doesn't mean he's not ignorant. You did well to walk away.
I'm a (retired) mechanical engineer and still filter information thru my internal engineering calculator. I would have asked the scientist where we're gonna get the rare earth elements needed to make the high tech electric motors. They're called
Lanthanide Series elements. Stuff like Neodymium and Ytterbium needed for the super magnets. The answer: China!
And the sad part is we have Lanthanide reserves in the U.S. but it will take 15 years to bring commercial mining on line.
Great. We trade the boot of OPEC on our throats for the boot of China. Without getting too overtly political about the whole deal, I say we'd better add, "Dig, (Lanthanides) baby, dig" to "Drill, baby, drill!" If we need oil and we need rare earth elements to support our civilization, we better get to it.
Steve